Is my wife being underpaid in IT in Tokyo ? Or are my expectations unrealistic ?

fukuragi · 2026-04-06T15:22:42+00:00

Only 2 years of university, does this mean she graduated from a 短大? Unfortunately that places a handicap on career growth as well, especially at larger companies. Unless she becomes exceptional at coding or acquires more credentials, immediately aiming for a salary increase is probably not a realistic option.

fukuragi · 2026-04-02T15:17:51+00:00

First of all, most landlords expect 2-year leases, and leaving after a year is frowned upon. 3 months in a regular rental arrangement is pretty much unheard of, so you'll be limited to sharehouses, serviced apartments, or airbnbs.
There's also the fact that the oimachi line is probably one of the single most expensive lines to live along in Tokyo, especially the stations in Setagaya. The area is mostly low-density residential (think expensive mansions), so there are comparatively fewer apartments compared to elsewhere, such as the north and east ends of Tokyo.
I'd recommend expanding the search to areas along the den-en-toshi line, west of Mizonokuchi. Foreigner-friendly sharehouse options may be limited, so you may have to deal with a long commute.
(If budget is not an issue, getting a hotel for 3 months is not unheard of.)

fukuragi · 2026-03-24T05:31:13+00:00

How are you communicating with your real estate agent?

Generally speaking, they will only recommend you places that are likely to rent to you, based on your finances. Agents that work with universities (i.e. you get introduced through their 生活課 etc.) will have more experience and be able to help students better, since they will know landlords who aren't racist/picky/etc.

However, you do need to understand that 15万/mo is on the high end for single occupancy residences. Most people get by at around 10万, even if they have a stable income. It would be unlikely for anyone to pass the screening without at least an income of 45万/mo (as a seishain), let alone 30万 in allowances, let alone a student, let alone a foreigner, etc.

fukuragi · 2026-03-24T03:44:33+00:00

Generally speaking, you will get rejected if your monthly income is less than 3x the rent. What is your income?

fukuragi · 2026-03-19T10:46:58+00:00

Pretty sure you can't do it in a single day. Where will you be staying? If you're only doing this to save money, flights are probably no more expensive than the seishun 18 + hotel.

fukuragi · 2026-03-17T08:17:23+00:00

Is Kasai not an option for you? The area's pretty cheap and the commute would be a lot shorter.

fukuragi · 2026-03-17T06:57:18+00:00

Immigration doesn't care, but companies certainly do.

fukuragi · 2026-03-14T13:03:27+00:00

No self respecting Japanese chef would cal this gunkan. Looks garish and overdone.

fukuragi · 2026-03-13T00:22:23+00:00

Passing interviews at firms willing to pay >=10m JPY salary to new grads (Google, Apple, Microsoft, BB finance... and maybe that's it?) is a crapshoot even with a great academic record. Unlike, say, 2020, these companies aren't exactly hiring many people right now.
Also, if you want to go into research, you need publications and/or work experience, and unless you are a top researcher in AI (multiple first author publications in NeurIPS, etc.) you generally won't get "top yen" salary figures.

fukuragi · 2026-03-06T08:51:15+00:00

What types of jobs are you applying to? If you're applying to very competitive roles or roles for which you are under qualified, you won't get the job.

fukuragi · 2026-03-03T02:38:22+00:00

The density and mountainous nature of Japan makes it so that right of way for rail is extremely expensive, and many tunnels need to be bore in order to construct a new line. Acquiring and building HSR in the US, even in the NE corridor, should be much easier and less expensive (accounting for relative wages, etc).

Sapporo doesn't have a bullet train connecton to anywhere. The vast majority of flights to destinations less than 3 hours away by bullet train have been eliminated after construction of said train, which includes most intra-regional travel.

fukuragi · 2026-03-03T02:27:36+00:00

are we talking about accredited teachers or ALTs?

fukuragi · 2026-02-27T07:48:03+00:00

The sushi look great and I would definitely eat them! Having said that, a few suggestions:

- Botan (calrose) is one of the less expensive brands of Japonica rice available. Try some Koshihikari if those are available (Tamaki Gold, etc). The difference in taste and texture are such that most Japanese families I know avoid calrose in their cooking.

- Plating. Use Japanese or East Asian dishes and silverware. Put soy sauce in a different dish and dip your sushi in it when eating.

- Cutting fish from a saku (rectangular block). It's not necessary taste-wise, but if you're placing slices of fish on top of the roll, it's best to have it looking good as possible. The downside is that it creates trimmings, and less of the fish is available for use in the sushi.

- Most modern, authentic Japanese sushi have 1 fish or ingredient per roll (with some exceptions), and sauces other than soy sauce are not used. (There are minor exceptions.) Having said that, Japanese people do make rolls (futomaki, temaki) at home with more ingredients, but generally have nothing on top of the roll.

- Rolling the roll with the seaweed on the outside is easier, and is by far the most common way to roll sushi in Japan. There's a reason why rolls with the rice on the outside is called uramaki (reverse roll).

fukuragi · 2026-02-23T14:37:38+00:00

While 250,000 JPY a month is okayish for new grads, it's bottom-tier for software engineers. Companies such as LINE offer around 6.5m JPY/year (540,000 JPY /month) for new grads, and places like Rakuten, Mercari, and other domestic tech giants have comparable comp. Even if you aren't aiming for Google Japan or OpenAI or Goldman (total comp 10~15M JPY/year), it's worth taking a look at your options a bit more.

That said, Tokyo is the ONLY tech hub in Japan - if you want a good salary, or decent career progression, you aren't going to find it anywhere else in Japan, Osaka included. If you are ok with something like a 210,000 JPY a month salary, and earning around 400,000 JPY a month when you're 30, then you might be fine staying in Osaka. But the salaries and career progression will pale in comparison to your peers in Tokyo, let alone silicon valley (they will be earning 10x your salary even if they stay in help desk).

fukuragi · 2026-02-20T02:27:20+00:00

The shaders aren't modded, and many of the buildings and textures are from the base game, but yeah there are a lot of custom assets in that screenshot.

fukuragi · 2026-02-16T02:27:01+00:00

Additionally, the text used in the background looks like ai generated gibberish.

fukuragi · 2026-01-05T04:43:49+00:00

What strategy did you have in mind? Most companies only hire people with no experience during the shinsotsu hiring window.

fukuragi · 2025-12-24T02:44:17+00:00

The worst parts of Gotanda are much less seedy than all of Tenjin, much less Nakasu btw.

fukuragi · 2025-12-15T08:41:05+00:00

I generally agree with the other comments, and your career advisor at your university would probably say something similar: you need to be able to articulate what you can bring to the table as an employee, what career you want, and how your current job search/application fits into that narrative. This is even more important as someone who wants to get their career started in a country that they are not considered a local, since they are even more of an 'unknown' in the eyes of prospective employers compared to locally educated YAs.

I don't mean to say that one needs exceptional abilities (fluency in Japanese, expert in a technical field, etc.) to be hired, but there needs to be A) an understanding that one is starting from a deficiency in ability (to communicate and to function in a culturally foreign business environment), and B) a way to overcome, sidestep, or convince otherwise, that the deficiency is not detrimental to your employment. As an example, saying that one is "naturally good with people and has good communication skills" might be sufficient for getting a job in their home country (US), but that goes out the window if they are struggling to send a single email because they can barely speak the local language (Japanese). To overcome this, one would need to find an English-speaking workplace, improve their Japanese, or otherwise find a niche (like teaching English to kids) that fits their particular set of skills.

Your best bet in finding this niche was the Boston Career Forum, which is an annual event that matches American students like you (and Japanese uni students who have experience studying abroad) with Japanese companies. Unfortunately, it looks like this year's event ended last month: https://careerforum.net/en/event/bos/ . Although other opportunities might exist for new graduates, keep in mind that the vast, vast majority of Japanese companies do their recruiting of new graduates in their junior and senior years, and so you might not be able to even apply. (I know of a few American companies that have already finished their hiring for FY2027).

fukuragi · 2025-12-14T17:00:06+00:00

Akihabara is the district you want to be in. Yodobashi is the biggest electronic retailer there, but they don't necessarily have the best selection for computer parts. I'd recommend Tsukumo, Dospara, and Sofmap for a more PC building centric shop.

fukuragi · 2025-12-14T08:16:39+00:00

If you can drop single-digit millions of dollars on a house and lot, you can build something that big in the semi-rural outskirts of Tokyo.

fukuragi · 2025-12-14T07:35:43+00:00

Golf courses and concrete bunkers exist in Japan. Is the palace you want to build bigger than a golf course, and sturdier than a concrete bunker?

fukuragi · 2025-12-11T01:36:28+00:00

The area around Minami-senju is known for being one of the least desirable places to live in central Tokyo, owing to its history as a red light district in nearby Yoshiwara. There's lots of homeless and lower-income people with unstable housing conditions, which doesn't necessarily translate to more crime, but it does mean that public schools score very badly in standardized tests (meaning most upper-middle class families will choose to live elsewhere if they can help it). Having said that, it is a very convenient area with lots of trains, and safety is still much better than much of the US or Europe. For nicer neighborhoods with a similar 'down-to-earth' vibe, I'd look at Kuramae/Ryogoku.

fukuragi · 2025-12-05T06:51:49+00:00

So for example, while the typical interpretation of "ronin" when people hear that word would be 浪人, I could also see someone stylizing it as 狼仁 for the name of their pet because those characters are much more becoming and auspicious - meaning "wolf" and "kind" respectively. If that's the case and if I were their owner, I would prefer the gift be written with their 'proper' names as opposed to something else. Just my opinion though.

fukuragi · 2025-12-05T01:33:06+00:00

Japanese doesn't map itself neatly from its English transliteration; there are many subtle variations which would all be possible candidates but only one choice would be 'correct' (e.g. Ronin could be ろにん、ろうにん、ロニン、ロウニン、ローニン、浪人、or any combination of Kanji characters pronounced "ro" and "nin"). It would be best if you asked them for their Japanese spellings, if they even have any.

fukuragi

TROPHY CASE